THE NINTH MAN
bitterer to me, for all the things that I had not you had. But now I shall soon have that which you have not. Morning and night, when you were wont to pass by here, there will be a happy and rejoiceful time for me instead of one of shame and envy."
So astounded was I, I had no word for him, for I had never thought of him. I remembered, indeed, that when I was a lad I had plagued him, thoughtless, as had the other lads.
"But I never hurt you, Oreste," I faltered. And he mocked me.
"The serene lord has forgotten that he took from me the only sweet thing I ever had. When we were lads, Matteo, I had a little sweetheart. When the others ran away and would not play with me, she sat with me. When they mocked me, she comforted me. Then you came one day and taught her to play with you, and to laugh at me like the others. Since that day I have known the worth of pity and have taken none of it."
Thus he drowned me with the pent-up venom of years, And I had gone to him assured that morning, and having found that
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